


Absolute Value

by mylittlecthulhu (marineko)



Series: Mathematics of Love [10]
Category: Arashi (Band), Johnny's Entertainment
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - College/University, Ficlet, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-09
Updated: 2012-08-09
Packaged: 2017-12-31 06:26:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,297
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1028325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marineko/pseuds/mylittlecthulhu
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aiba and Sho's Christmas date.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Absolute Value

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sharksoul24](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sharksoul24/gifts).



Aiba’s been acting strange throughout dinner. While Sho knows him to be chatty during their lunch breaks with Jun and Nino, he also noticed that Aiba’s quieter when it’s just the two of them. In fact, he’s the one who usually talks too much. But somehow that night Aiba’s been talking non-stop, about things Sho doesn’t really know about.   
  
“So, well, you know Kishimoto-sensei’s kind of particular about things like that, right? I mean,  _everybody_  knows, but somehow Yoko  _didn’t_ , or just  _didn’t remember_ , or something, and he left it there on her desk like that, right before the staff meeting! You can imagine what happened next, you know how she slowly gets all red when she’s mad –”  
  
Sho knows no such thing, since he only knows Kishimoto-sensei from the two or three times they’ve worked together, like the time he’d been an extra chaperone for her students’ debate team when they traveled to compete. He isn’t even sure what it is that had made her mad, since Aiba isn’t being terribly specific, but he nods anyway.  
  
“-and in the end Yoko got so freaked out, he rushed straight to the Junior High Side to hide. He spent the rest of the evening in Hina’s classroom! Good thing he didn’t have any classes to teach that day, although I wonder what Hina’s students must’ve thought.” Aiba laughs at the memory. Sho smiles at the sight of Aiba laughing. He doesn’t know what it is about Aiba, but it definitely is  _something_.  
  
“I’m so glad you’re here with me tonight,” he blurts out, before he could stop himself. He reddens immediately; he’s pretty sure his cheeks flamed up faster than Kishimoto-sensei’s.  
  
Aiba, too, stops, and looks awkward, caught in between his own happiness and embarrassment, and something else that Sho can’t place. It’s probably the thing that’s been making Aiba act so weird all night, he thinks.   
  
He tries to think of something to say to save the rest of the night from being _completely_  awkward, but all that he can think of are trite things that would sound stupid spoken out loud, and he does want Aiba to think of him as someone who could be more than an idiot who forgets the world once his favourite noodles are before him, and can’t dress himself (or at least that’s what Jun accuses him of), and oh god he can’t even begin on all the things Nino’s accused him of. Suddenly reminded of all these things, something in him deflates, and he wonders what Aiba sees in him. Perhaps Aiba’s beginning to regret dating him. Perhaps that’s why Aiba’s been so nervous all night.  
  
Are they even a couple? They’ve only been on a few dates since Valentines, and that’s so very long ago. Sure, they’ve seen each other almost every day since then, in school and out, but real, proper dates? He could count them on one hand. They’re both so very busy, after all. He sighs. “Aiba –”  
  
“Sorry.” This time it’s Aiba who blurts out his words in a rush, like he’s spitting his thoughts out before they’re ready to be formed. Sho inhales, and holds his breath.  
  
It’s not the end of the world, he thinks, if Aiba no longer wants him. He’s just losing his sun, the center of his gravity, that’s all.   
  
Even as he begins to chastise himself for melodramatic thoughts – drama is definitely Jun’s forte, he tells himself, and doesn’t suit him – Aiba stands up, and bows in apology.   
  
“Aiba, don’t,” he mutters. Without meaning to, he glances around to see if anyone else is looking. Thankfully, the other diners seem to be engrossed in their own conversations – only a couple of women seem to be looking at them, and only one of them is looking with eyes so round she reminds him of one of the dolls his sister collects. “Aiba,” he hisses as softly as he could manage. “ _Sit down_.”  
  
Aiba sits, but the guilty expression doesn’t leave his face. “I’m sorry,” he says again.  
  
“Just – what is it?” Sho asks. Even if Aiba doesn’t want to see him anymore – while the question of whether or not they’re “seeing each other” is debatable – it isn’t like Aiba to do something like this. Aiba hates the souring of moments that are supposed to be, well,  _merry_ , and would probably suffer in silence rather than make anyone else uncomfortable or unhappy. It’s part of what worries him, sometimes, when Aiba’s too cheerful to be believable. “You can tell me.”  
  
Aiba answers, but his answer comes out too fast in a voice too low, and Sho doesn’t catch it. Sho sighs, and reaches out to take Aiba’s hand over the table. Let anyone who wants to stare, he thinks. Aiba should never be allowed to be upset in any way; it’s just wrong, somehow.   
  
“You can tell me,” he says again.  
  
Aiba breathes in, and out. Sho holds his breath, like it’s going to protect him for the blow he’s sure is coming.  
  
“I forgot your present,” Aiba says.  
  
What?  
  
“…what?”   
  
There is a moment of blankness as he tries to compute Aiba’s words.   
  
“I forgot your present,” Aiba repeats, calmer this time, perhaps reassured by Sho’s lack of – Sho doesn’t know what Aiba expects. Anger? Disappointment? But how could he be disappointed when Aiba’s right  _there_? He blinks at Aiba, a little mystified. “I was planning to get you a really special present, really I was,” Aiba insists. “But it took me so long to figure out what would be the most special thing to give you, that before I knew it it’s too late and I’ve forgotten about everyone  _else’s_ presents, too, and then when I went shopping everywhere was too busy and I had to fight with Ohno-sensei for Nino’s book, and –”  
  
“Aiba,” Sho interrupts. “Aiba.”  
  
“What? I’m trying to tell you something, here.”  
  
“It’s okay.”  
  
“But it’s not like I meant to not get you a present! I can pay for dinner if you want, that could be my gift, okay –”  
  
Aiba stops talking, to Sho’s relief, when the waitress comes with their dessert. Sho had planned the entire dinner, had called in and ordered everything in advance. He had told Aiba that all Aiba had to do was show up. And now it’s time for cake.  
  
Except that it isn’t a Christmas cake – it’s a birthday cake, for Aiba.  
  
“Happy birthday,” he says hesitantly, unsure how Aiba would take it.  
  
“But – I – you did this?” Aiba asks. The waitress tactfully leaves them, and Sho nods. “For me?”  
  
Sho smiles, but he’s sure that his smile is all wobbly and wrong.   
  
Aiba looks sad.  
  
“But I forgot your present,” he tells Sho in earnest. “I’ve been a bad boyfriend, I don’t deserve this.”  
  
 _Boyfriend_.  
  
Aiba gives him a startled look, realizing himself what he had just said out loud. It’s the first time either of them had acknowledged to each other what they think they are.   
  
Sho’s smile is still tremulous, but as they stare at each other it grows wider, and turns into a grin.   
  
“You’re here,” he says. “Why would I ever need anything else?”  
  
He watches as Aiba’s expression slowly begin to match his own, and then their gaze breaks as Aiba ruins the moment, letting out a peal of almost wheezy laughter as he informs Sho that being sentimental definitely doesn’t suit him.  
  
Sho protests indignantly and loudly, but there is still something soft in the way he looks at Aiba, as he thinks that yes, he doesn’t know what it is about Aiba, but there definitely is  _something_.  
  
It isn’t often that one meets someone who turns anything and everything into a positive, and with Aiba, Sho decides that he’s playing for keeps.


End file.
